Description

Jeffrey Steingarten's first book, THE MAN WHO ATE EVERYTHING, was an instant classic. Nigella Lawson said, 'I have yet to meet anyone who hasn't adored this book once they've read it.' Now he has done it again. In this stunning collection of provocative, witty and erudite food essays, Jeffrey Steingarten continues his quest for the perfect meal. He chews over the supreme hors d'oeuvres recipe, embarks on an epic hunt for bluefish tuna, and, in 'The Man Who Cooked for his Dog', responds to baleful looks from his golden retriever by cooking him dishes of braised short ribs. As ever, it's a gloriously diverse menu from the man who has dedicated his life to searching out the ultimate in food experiences - at considerable expense to his waistline - for your reading pleasure. Read it and eat!show more

Review Text

Jeffrey Steingarten takes his food seriously - very seriously. In fact, he's made a career of it. Now the one-time lawyer turned food writer makes a triumphant return, with another collection of lively accounts of his adventures in the world of gastronomy. Only Steingarten would go to such painstaking lengths to prove that there really is a difference between table salt and the various gourmet brands preferred by salt aficionados. A quest for the perfect black pudding entails witnessing the actual slaughter and butchering of the beast, whilst making a seemingly simple cup of espresso coffee demands days of meticulous calculation and experiments. His explorations of world cuisine range from the bizarre - ant eggs, deep-fried worms and sea urchins - to plundering the ultimate pleasures to be had from the more mundane foodstuffs - cheese, chocolate and bread from all corners of the globe. Not satisfied with merely eating the finest tuna available, Steingarten has to go and catch it, and so we find him in the middle of the ocean, strapped to a chair, struggling to catch his own lunch. He then teaches us the finer points of tuna consumption, and why two small slices of the best sushi can cost as much as $20. Even his dog is not immune from the gourmand's ceaseless quest for gastronomic knowledge, as one day his daily diet is switched from dry food to a menu that many humans would envy. With Steingarten we eat in every conceivable eatery on earth from shacks in Thailand to bistros in Paris, and return with him to his own kitchen, where he attempts to recreate the foods he has consumed, never satisfied with anything less than perfection. Mating lobsters, the fall and rise of the French baguette, caviars, pizzas and the correct way to cook a rooster - Steingarten has an infectious enthusiasm for food and knowledge, which permeates this entertaining companion volume to The Man Who Ate Everything. An excellent read that will make your mouth water. (Kirkus UK)show more

About Jeffrey Steingarten

Jeffrey Steingarten trained to become a food writer at Harvard College, Harvard Law School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Harvard Lampoon. He is the internationally feared and acclaimed food critic of American Vogue.show more